tenses general
How many recognized tenses are there in the English language?
Name them.
There are 6 tenses in the English language.
simple present, simple past, present perfect, past perfect, simple future, future perfect
What are the three time points Reichenbach (1974) uses to interpret the various number of tenses?
The tree time points are the point of event, the point of reference, and the point of speech.
Determine the point of reference in the following sentence: “She made a short thank-you speech after she had read all the greeting cards.“
The point of reference is the simple past form “made“. “Had read“ is the event of preceding the point of reference for which reason the past perfect is used.
What do extended tenses indicate?
Extended tenses indicate that an event is stretched/extended in time (duration/repetition).
How does Reichenbach (1974) define tenses?
“The tenses determine time with reference to the time point of the act of speech […].“ (Reichenbach 1974: 71)
In which tense are point of event and point of reference simultaneous, namely before the point of speech?
The point of event and the point of reference are simultaneous in the simple past.
The “permanence of the reference point” is a typical feature of compound sentences. How does this permanence becomes visible?
The permanence becomes visible due to the adjustment of the clauses to one another. Hence, you can speak of identity when it comes to defining the time relation.
“[The adjective] indicates an extended tense[...] [Also, adjectives] are preferred if the duration of the event is long; therefore [they] can often be interpreted as describing permanent properties of things.” (Reichenbach 1974: 74)
Take a look at the sentences and match the correct pairs regarding the theoretical input in the citation.
1. She is communicating.
2. She communicates.
3. She is communicative.
a. present tense
b. permanent tense
c. extended tense
When we do not wish to express repetition or duration but validity at all times, what tense do we use?
Give an example sentence.
To express validity of all times we use simple present.
Four times six is twenty-four.
Which tense is depicted by the schema on the board?
The coincidence of the point of speech and the point of reference indicates that it must be the present perfect tense.
What is special about the point of reference in its positional use?
What then is the difference to the permanence of reference point?
In its positional use, the point of reference serves as carrier of the time position.
The time relation here is not identity but sequence.
Next to adjectives, what does the English language use to indicate a time extension of an event?
Name it and find it in the sentence “Women are wearing larger hats this year.”
Next to adjectives, the present participle is an indicator of extended tenses.
In the example sentence the present participle is “wearing“.
Why does the English language uses the simple past when time determination is added, whereas other languages, i.e. German, uses the present perfect.
(e.g. She is the girl who won the contest yesterday./Sie ist das Mädchen, das gestern den Wettbewerb gewonnen hat.
“[It] might be a result of the strict adherence to the principle of the positional use of the reference point.“ (Reichenbach 1974: 76)
How does the present perfect distinguish from the simple past in regard to the three time points?
In the present perfect tense the point of speech coincides with the point of reference. This clearly envisions the present-relevance of statements made in the present perfect.